[Technical Field]
The present disclosure relates to a product that has a plurality of components that are fixed to each other by an adhesive.
[Related Art]
Assembly of two components and use of an adhesive to fix the two components to each other during assembly of a product is well-known as described, for example, in JP-A-2012-113185. JP-A-2012-113185 discloses an imaging unit including a lens barrel, an imaging device, a base plate, and fixing members. The lens barrel holds one or more optical elements. The imaging device is disposed on the base plate, and acquires subject images imaged by the optical elements. The fixing members are disposed so as to surround the lens barrel. The lens barrel and the base plate are fixed by the fixing members using an adhesive.
The inventors of the present application have examined using an adhesive to fill a space that is formed between two components as a result of the components being assembled. As a result, the inventors have conceived of a method of forming, in one of the components, an inlet that surrounds a hole that communicates from the exterior into the space, and filling the space with the adhesive from the inlet.
However, based on the examination conducted by the inventors, the above-described method has problems such as the following. When products are mass-produced, filling with adhesive is generally automatically performed for each product. In this case, the amount of adhesive that fills the space from an adhesive dispenser is ordinarily controlled to a fixed amount. However, even when such control is performed, variations occur in the supplied amount of adhesive for filling. In addition, variations also unavoidably occur in the space surrounded by two components because of the tolerance for each product.
To firmly fix the two components, it is preferable that the space is filled with the adhesive in as many products as possible. However, when the supplied amount of adhesive is controlled to do so, the supplied amount of adhesive is excessive in some products, and the adhesive overflows from the inlet to the exterior. When the adhesive overflows from the inlet to the exterior, problems occur in that the appearance of the product becomes unattractive and the like.